Triple Treat Tour July 2016 Day 18 Conquering Kong, Islands, Outlets , Margaritaville , Teen Trials

[WileyCoyote]

The previous day is HERE

Wednesday 20 July

Today we were going to make the most out of the early park hours

And they mean early – 7 am

That didn’t mean I needed to be awake at 5 am though

But I was

And so were the people next door as their alarm went off at 5.30

I was trying really hard to be quiet but somehow managed to knock over my plastic cup of water

Small tsunami all over the bedside table ...

Managing to wash away my glasses into the gap between the bed and the table

Fab

Its pitch black

There is water running off the bedside table

And I cant see a thing – I mean I can’t see in the dark anyway ( all those lies you get told about carrots as a child ..)

and I deffo cant see without my specs so it was just a double disaster

At least I didn’t walk into anything and stub my toe though this time

Complete fail so I got up and switched the bathroom light on , using the pretext of making a coffee and was able to retrieve my glasses .

Phew

Andy was thrilled to be awake even earlier than necessary – as were the teens with their 0615 wake up call

But in fairness they were in the lobby before us at 6.30

We walked straight out to a waiting water taxi, which then took an age to fill but we were at Citywalk around 6.45

Spookily quiet







We were in the park just after 7 and making the walk up to Harry Potter











As we turned towards Jurassic World they were saying it was closed so lots of people were turning back but a small queue for Kong was forming .

So Andy and I decided to stay in the queue while the teens went off the ride FJ



The queue kept building so every 5 or 10 minutes we walked ahead a little and after 20 minutes Andy went back to wait for the boys at the bridge as by now we were well into Jurassic territory and we didn’t know if they would have the sense to keep walking to find us !



Reservoir Dogs do a bit of queue jumping

And look how happy everyone is to be in a queue at 7.40 am !



Just before 8 it was a brisk march to the ride

We think the queue area must be about a mile long , cunningly designed with lots of backwards and forwards but still a mile long none the less



These people had clearly de hydrated in the queue





As we were on such a brisk walk, it was really hard to take pics, and then you are in really dark rooms and it’s the whole Universal no cameras, no flash yada yada so not really any decent pics





We were starting to feel dizzy from going round so many corners



Jamie divided himself in half to get there quicker – neat camera trick right !



Scary dude issuing do not enter warning or similar



Giant worm thing that frightened the pants off Andy – watch out for it in the queue, It’s a good one



Sorry they are so crummy

And then we were on – loaded onto the 3rd truck of the day at just after 8 – think Jungle Cruise skippered by Indiana Jones while on Jurassic Park camping trip.

It was good – but not worth a mahoosive wait

We had waited 45 mins in early hours – does that count as a wait I wonder ?

I wouldn’t wait 45 minutes any other time

We were out by 8.10 and already a sizeable queue forming -it said 120 minutes.

The Park has only been open 10 minutes. That’s crazy.

We decided to split up and arrange to meet the teens at 1030 ( which is like almost lunchtime )

Connor it seems has become separated from his phone at some point this morning so sets off to report it lost

He didn’t seem that fussed “ it was rubbish anyway”, sigh.

Naturally we had a different view but c’est la vie.

It seems unlikely he will be re united with it as we leave tomorrow , but we can try.

Andy and I head off for a coffee and to ponder the lost phone





We had a spin on Spiderman which was a walk on



I cheer myself up with a nice slice of cake and one of those “ you are here mugs”.







Which cheers me up every morning ( and we since bought the NY and DC ones too)

[WileyCoyote]

Neither of us were really feeling in the mood for rides and as it was still early ( before 9.30) we headed back for a late breakfast at the Club lounge



Acquiring some doughnuts and muffins for snacks later



The teens still want to stay in the park so we used whatsapp to keep in touch and agree that we will met up again at 1.30 – they intend to do more rides and chill out in the room later .

We will do some shopping

We headed out around 1030





The outlets are empty !









What a fab shopping experience - no people, no queues !

Purchases were made



I got some lovely gloves from the Disney Store , those touch screen ones and another pair of those super soft socks



I think todays purchases just went straight in the cases, I cant seem to find any pics but rest assured, trainers were in there

I had made a point of saying I wanted to go into Aeropostale – and completely forgot .

Ah well, excuse for next time

We headed back and packed up more of the cases , I also wanted to make sure everything was in a plastic bag in the non hard shell cases, just in case of a downpour on the tarmac

Love the packing cubes – it made it so easy when we got home



The teen had messaged to say they had eaten and were all going for a kip after the early start to the day – we did share the doughnuts and muffins with them and agreed to meet up again around 6

Bit of a shame really as I had hoped to get to Teak today but nobody was in the mood – ah well, another year we didn’t get there – always next time …

Andy and I headed to the lounge at 5 and had a nice hour in there

Tonight it was wings and chicken empanadas



Washed down with some lovely chilled wine and beer.

Perfect as appetisers before dinner !

Or in some cases, perfect instead of dinner

We met the boys at 6.30 and headed out into Citywalk

Instead of our usual Bubba Gumps, we decided to try here





We had a short wait for a table and were a little perplexed by this



Andy and Nick declared they were not hungry so just three of us to eat

First off, of course, a Bahama Mama




Not as good as Red Lobster IMO

Connor and I had the fried chicken with mash and buttermilk gravy. It was lovely



Jamie had the chicken sandwich. Which was ok



The bill felt quite a lot at $90 with just three meals



No room for desert

It was lovely outside now so we popped back to Islands for a bit

Spot who isn’t catching ‘em all …

[WileyCoyote]

The family tradition of these photos continues – the teens loved it , obviously







Ah, they are so cute really



Andy and I headed for Seuss Land while they went the other way

We got wetter than necessary on One Fish Two Fish and then had a laugh on the SkyTrolley – where we encountered a queue on the express pass line – never had that before .

Ah, I love it , its one of my favourites







We made at stop at the Candy Store and I picked up a woopie pie











Nice but very dense and a bit sickly towards the end

We had a quick browse in here



Andy bought me this



But declined the corresponding one for himself !



Ah , I love it here





Festive Stags … with bells on





Yup this is me





Cant be outdone by the teens



They caught up with us at the exit where Jamie announces he is the bearer of more bad news in that whilst messing about this afternoon he “ accidentally” pushed his brother off the bed, who was attached to his ipad with his very expensive gaming headphones … which were now broken

Poor Connor, not his day

Lads eh , gotta love em

So an expensive night for Jamie as we ordered a replacement set on Amazon to be waiting for us on return home

Of course I had not said anything on departure day about said headphones being a potential liability on this trip

Well , we got to day 18 I guess …

I always get sad on the last water taxi trip in the evening





This was playing as we walked back into the Hard Rock – children of the 80s – iconic video !



The boys went up to their room, we headed off to the Velvet Room for a drink

It was a toss up between the Sugar in your Tank and Liberation cocktail for me



Liberation won – it was lovely



We ended up watching Mr Robot for far too long again but we are not rushing off tomorrow – just have to be ready for checkout at 11, sob

And that day is just HERE

[Floridaagogo]

Lost phones and broken headphones aside ..a lovely day..I was ridiculously chuffed to see the red sock I have on my feet at the moment on your report 😀

[Milner]

Another fab read.

[Redrach1903]

Ah lovely last full day Amanda. Whenever I see those empty Universal pics I tell myself to book a stay for next time!

I've heard mixed reviews about Kong. Seems a bit of an anti climax by all accounts.

Love the photos around Seuss Landing at night xx

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by Floridaagogo

Lost phones and broken headphones aside ..a lovely day..I was ridiculously chuffed to see the red sock I have on my feet at the moment on your report 😀

See more...

It was a good day , teen stuff aside ! Did lol about the Socks. Not tried mine yet ..

Originally Posted by Milner

Another fab read.

See more...

Thank you x

Originally Posted by Redrach1903

Ah lovely last full day Amanda. Whenever I see those empty Universal pics I tell myself to book a stay for next time!

I've heard mixed reviews about Kong. Seems a bit of an anti climax by all accounts.

Love the photos around Seuss Landing at night xx

See more...

It was a nice last day. Early hours are good ... But that was early

Kong, mmmm, it's ok. It would scare smaller peeps and its well done but no one thought it was awesome.

[collybird]

Glad you got to ride Kong! I don't think I'd be up for waiting 120 minutes for it!

I love your Starbucks purchases, a great idea.

[WileyCoyote]

Originally Posted by collybird

Glad you got to ride Kong! I don't think I'd be up for waiting 120 minutes for it!

I love your Starbucks purchases, a great idea.

See more...

I'm not sure do wait. That long to ride anything,and definitely not Kong !

We love those mugs. I know they do the Disney park ones but we didn't know they had city ones as well .

[CuriousAlice]

Not a good start to the day with the water spill. I am also the early riser in the house and I know the others get really annoyed when they hear me shuffling and creeping about if we are sharing a room. Bit hard to stay under the radar if you create a tsunami though.

So impressed that the boys were up and ready by 6.30. I have no hope at all with my DD16. (She keeps asking if this time we will wait for her before we go out for breakfast so I can see this could be the trigger for TCFS!)

We also insist on the photos of the kids at the various photo points at Port of Entry. I love it around there. So much detail and lovely music.

Such a shame about the phone and headphones. (I am expecting a battle with our DS next month as he will want to take his gaming headphones too). I am sure Connor felt like he was missing a limb even if he thought his phone was outdated. At least it was towards the end of the trip and commendable that you all seemed to stay calm about it. It would be a life changing event for one of my two.

I have never eaten at Margaritaville but I adore their cocktails. I always go for their Margarita so can't comment on the worthiness of their Bahama Mama.

Like your green sundress by the way x